F1 | GP BELGIUM, GIAN CARLO MINARDI “GREAT UNKNOWNS BEHIND VERSTAPPEN”

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If, on the one hand, we have a Red Bull that is absolutely beyond the limits of which we will (probably) never know (as shown by the fastest lap set in Budapest), there are great variations behind Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman is certainly making the difference. Without him we would be watching a championship with five/six different winners. For this reason, in view of Spa-Francorchamps the real question is: Which will be the second force?

Since the first grands prix we have seen radical changes from second to sixth place, due to the management of the tyres, weather conditions and, obviously, the developments of the car. It is not an easy to predict the name of the second place, above all in view of a long and demanding circuit such as Spa.

Today we have McLaren as the second force. At the start of the season, it was Aston Martin, then overtaken by Mercedes, with the introduction of the B version. Who is missing from the roll call is Ferrari. Let us see if they will be able to patch things up. They are passing through a moment of discomfort, as we can see from the strained faces. It will not be easy to recover.

Among the things we are seeing is an exciting competitiveness in qualifying, with the drivers enclosed within a handful of tenths of a second. A situation that changes drastically in the race.

It will be interesting to follow Sergio Perez as well, after his third place in Budapest. The Red Bull driver came from the last five unexciting rounds.

To try and avoid the rain, this year the round in Belgium has been brought forward, even if the forecasts talk about temperatures of 17-19°C with the possibility of showers. All this reminds me of an anecdote:

On 2 June 1985 the Belgian Grand Prix should have been run precisely in Spa-Francorchamps (it was the first year in the world championship for us), but the race was suspended because the asphalt crumbled as the cars passed, making it all very dangerous. A situation created by both the high heat and the newly laid street surface. The GP was later recovered with Piero Martini finishing in twelfth place with the M185.

It will be interesting to see what will happen on Sunday, and also Saturday afternoon with the sprint race on such a long (the longest of the championship) and demanding track.

Gian Carlo Minardi

F1 | GP HUNGARY, THE POINT BY GIAN CARLO MINARDI “RED BULL’S MORAL, SPORTING AND TECHNICAL SLAP”

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Hungary was the setting for the new qualifying format which saw the drivers face up to three sessions with the imposed compounds. A new experiment which requires further verdicts, but I find the signs decidedly positive. It can have a future. We saw a wonderful tussle on the edge of hundredths of a second. In Q2 sixteen cars were enclosed within a gap of barely 7 tenths of a second. In Q3 ten cars in little more than half a second with Hamilton, Verstappen, and Norris in 85 thousandths. It is easy to see surprises as happened with George Russell who went from the “rags” to “riches”. I am curious to see it repeated in Monza.

As far as the grand prix is concerned, what can I say? Max Verstappen was superlative, supported by a great Red Bull- They confirmed they are absolutely unbeatable. Verstappen crossed the finish line 33.7” ahead of Lando Norris, an excellent second place with McLaren, confirming the excellent evolutionary step already seen in Austria and England.

Oscar Piastri confirmed what I have been saying for some time, he is growing from race to race, above all since the World Championship has come to the tracks he already knew. More, now that he is also supported technically. He is possibly lightly punished by the strategies in favour of Norris, an English driver in an English car.

Too bad for Lewis Hamilton. With the imperfect start he denied himself the podium finding himself quickly behind not only Verstappen’s Red Bull, but also the two McLarens.

Sergio Perez completed his task, considering the car available to him. After a disastrous Saturday he recovered the podium, the minimum result. His teammates domination has probably demoralized him. Friday’s mistake was very serious, on the first lap on a wet track. A driver who aspires for the world championship cannot make these mistakes.

An equally serious mistake by Charles Leclerc in pit lane, even if it cost him little considering the 70” gap (which would have been 65 without the penalty) paid in regard to Verstappen. In any case, if you want to play for the world championship you cannot trip over such trivialities. A mistake also by the team, with the left rear. There is certainly great nervousness in Ferrari. The team cannot find a way out.

Today Red Bull also inflicted a lesson and moral, technical, and sporting slap to everyone with a pitstop that finished in 1.9” (Ferrari made 2.6”), to which must be added the best lap of the race by the Dutchman in 1:20.540. The only one to fall under the 1:21 barrier was Lewis Hamilton, the best of the others, who stopped at 1:21.601. Lando Norris 1:22.178. Charles Leclerc 1:22.469.

Now we only have to wait for Spa-Francorchamps before the summer break.

Gian Carlo Minardi

F1 | HUNGARIAN GP, GIAN CARLO MINARDI “WILL THE PERFORMANCES IN SILVERSTONE BE CONFIRMED?”

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We have come to Hungary, the eleventh round of this world championship which, apart from the (practically) unchallenged domination of Max Verstappen (with 8 wins) and Red Bull (10 wins), has given us a number of upheavals of the forces in the field.

If at Silverstone we saw a competitive McLaren which allowed Lando Norris to take second place and his first podium of the season (with Piastri fourth), in Austria the podium went to Ferrari with Leclerc who then slumped in England. Even earlier Mercedes had leapt over a good Aston Martin, being able to finish on the podium five times with Fernando Alonso in the first 8 grands prix, presenting itself as the second force of the world championship. The position currently occupied by Mercedes. Instead, Monte Carlo gave us Alpine’s exploit with Esteban Ocon’s third place.

It will be interesting to see if, on the slow Budapest track, traditionally characterized by high air and track temperatures, these forces will be confirmed or if we will once again see a change, even in preparation for the second part of the season. If the drivers’ ladder is defined with Verstappen launched towards his third title, on the constructors’ side there is great uncertainty behind RB.

Exactly the uneasy situation of Alpha Tauri (currently in last place with only two points) led to the dubious change of steering wheels between de Vries and Ricciardo.

The Hungaroring will be the setting for new qualifying, with the drivers to the various sessions with compulsory compounds (Q1 Hard, Q2 Medium, Q3 Soft). It will be interesting following it in light of the near future.

Gian Carlo Minardi

F1 | BRITISH GP, THE POINT BY GIAN CARLO MINARDI “MCLAREN CONFIRMS ITS GROWTH, JUST LIKE NORRIS AND PIASTRI”

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We saw a good grand prix with a marvellous public, as usual under the banner of an unstoppable Max Verstappen who can afford to let his tyres skid at the start, losing first place in favour of a very good Lando Norris to then calmly recover in the space of four laps.

From what we saw yesterday in the first laps, in addition to legitimizing more and more Red Bull, this let us understand how much this young man has matured, only two years ago he would have made Norris run to retake the lead of the grand prix quickly. This time he kept his cool and recovered a bit at a time to overtake him four laps later.

Undoubtedly, we must also applaud McLaren and its flagbearers, Norris and Piastri. Coming onto the well-known tracks Oscar’s performances have grown considerably. At Silverstone he too could count on the important updates and only a touch of bad luck tied to the entry of the safety-car denied him the satisfaction of his first podium in Formula 1.

A podium that was occupied with great obstinacy by Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes who consolidated second place in the constructors’ ladder at the expense of Aston Martin that seems to have lost its initial shine. Probably the scheduled developments of the car are not enough to keep up with the direct rivals.

Certainly, McLaren’s result on a truly demanding track such as Silverstone can relaunch them in the second half of the championship.

It was instead a step backwards by Ferrari with Leclerc and Sainz who finished ninth and tenth respectively behind Albon’s Williams. In the warm track conditions (as already happened in other occasions, including in Austria during Saturday’s sprint race) the SF-23 shows all its difficulties passing from the highs to the lows.

Amongst other things, I believe the Ferrari Power-Unit is not up to the level of Mercedes and Honda and has some problems as Haas’s failures showed despite the not demanding air temperatures.

We just have to wait to see what will happen in Hungary in two weeks, a traditionally very hot track with a very slow layout.

Gian Carlo Minardi

F1 | BRITISH GP, GIAN CARLO MINARDI “SAINZ AND LECLERC MUST BE ALLOWED TO FIGHT. I’LL EXPLAIN WHY.”

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Having said goodbye to Austria Formula 1 has already arrived in Silverstone, England. With some exceptions, historically it is a track for the English teams and here it will not be easy to annoy Red Bull and Max Verstappen.

But it will be a good testing ground for Ferrari after the positive result achieved last week, to verify if there will again be a further step forward. Certainly, the weather conditions could play an important role since the SF-23 was in trouble in low temperatures.

At this moment Ferrari must aim at recovering the gap from Aston Martin and Mercedes to try to take second place in the constructors’ ladder. I do not see any other goals.

The drivers themselves must work together in this direction. In the ladder Carlos Sainz is ahead of Charles Leclerc but both cannot aspire to any trophy. For this reason, they should be free to fight it out on the track, having as sole objective the most points for the team.

Mercedes and Aston Martin seemed in difficulty in Austria. Silverstone will be a testing ground for them as well, to verify if that was only an isolated episode. The situation for McLaren is different. With the introduction of the new car Lando Norris took fourth place. This weekend Piastri will also be able to count on the updated car. It will be interesting to follow their work.

Yesterday (Wednesday) the 2024 calendar was made public, made up of 24 grands prix, starting on March 2 and closing on December 8. Running on Saturday will be nothing new for Formula 1. In fact, the 1985 South African grand prix was already run on Saturday. Next year Italy will again be able to count on Imola and Monza. We will get to work immediately to recover what it was not possible to do this year due to the flood.

Gian Carlo Minardi

F1 | GP AUSTRIA, THE POINT BY GIAN CARLO MINARDI “FERRARI MUST FIND CONSISTENCY AIMING FOR SECOND PLACE IN THE CONSTRUCTORS’”

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As was easy to expect, Red Bull and Max Verstappen hoarded away the points with pole position, the win in the sprint race and in the grand prix, as well as the fastest lap (snatching it way from Sergio Perez) with a pitstop on the last lap and mounting the softs.

With this move, which was also a little arrogant considering that even the team was against it, he wanted to give a moral slap to his teammate and Ferrari.

Ferrari showed an improvement, especially in regard to its direct rivals Mercedes and Aston Martin (not perfectly at ease in Austria). Both Leclerc and Sainz were protagonists of a good race and a solid weekend, particularly the Spaniard who fought with Perez trying to repeat Saturday’s result.

Too bad for the 5” penalty for having exceeded the track limit just when he was behind his teammate. Otherwise, he would have been able to keep third place. Excellent second place for Leclerc (paying however an average 5 tenths of a second gap per lap from Verstappen), even if the “stain” from the sprint race remains, finishing only in twelfth place.

Ferrari must work on precisely this issue: consistency to avoid running once more into Saturday’s problems with a cold track. They must run to become the second force of the world championship. It is useless and illusory to think anything else.

Sergio Perez took third place, but he is still passing through an uneasy period. There is an abyss between him and Verstappen, even if he may have the excuse of a not perfect physical condition.
We saw McLaren again with Norris who had a car with many new innovations, unlike Piastri with the traditional car. Fourth place is a good omen for the near future. Silverstone will be an important test for them as well.

Before we say goodbye, I would like to give some thought to the track limit rule. Perhaps it is time to think that not all rules are good on all tracks. It is really a scandal to award all these penalties in one weekend. It needs to be reconsidered, especially in view of the numerous penalties imposed five hours after the checkered flag concluded as a result of the complaint filed by Aston Martin that subsequently involved Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon, Esteban Ocon (as much as 30″), Logan Sargeant, Nyck de Vries (15″) and Yuki Tsunoda.

Gian Carlo Minardi